Russian strategic nuclear bombers conducted at least 16 incursions into northwestern U.S. air defense identification zones over the past 10 days, an unusually sharp increase in aerial penetrations, according to U.S. defense officials.

The numerous flight encounters by Tu-95 Russian Bear H bombers prompted the scrambling of U.S. jet fighters on several occasions, and come amid heightened U.S.-Russia tensions over Ukraine. Also, during one bomber incursion near Alaska, a Russian intelligence-gathering jet was detected along with the bombers.

"You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man's age-old dream – the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order – or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism." -Ronald Reagan

An Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) is airspace over land or water in which the identification, location, and control of civil aircraft is required in the interest of national security.[1] They extend beyond a country's airspace to give the country more time to respond to foreign and possibly hostile aircraft.[2] The authority to establish an ADIZ is not given by any international treaty nor prohibited by international law and is not regulated by any international body.[2][3]

The United States maintains four zones: The Contiguous US ADIZ; Alaska ADIZ; Guam ADIZ; and Hawaii ADIZ.[1] Under U.S. law and policy, the zone applies only to commercial aircraft intending to enter U.S. airspace.[1] An air defense command and control structure was developed in 1950, creating five Air Defense Identification Zones around North America. If radio interrogation failed to identify an aircraft in the ADIZ, the Air Force launched interceptor aircraft to identify the intruder visually. The air defense system reached its peak in 1962, however with the deployment of the SS-6ICBM in the USSR, strategic threats shifted overwhelmingly to ICBM attacks, and bomber intrusions were considered to be less of a threat. It does apply to aircraft passing through the zone to other countries.

An Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) is airspace over land or water in which the identification, location, and control of civil aircraft is required in the interest of national security.[1] They extend beyond a country's airspace to give the country more time to respond to foreign and possibly hostile aircraft.[2] The authority to establish an ADIZ is not given by any international treaty nor prohibited by international law and is not regulated by any international body.[2][3]

The United States maintains four zones: The Contiguous US ADIZ; Alaska ADIZ; Guam ADIZ; and Hawaii ADIZ.[1] Under U.S. law and policy, the zone applies only to commercial aircraft intending to enter U.S. airspace.[1] An air defense command and control structure was developed in 1950, creating five Air Defense Identification Zones around North America. If radio interrogation failed to identify an aircraft in the ADIZ, the Air Force launched interceptor aircraft to identify the intruder visually. The air defense system reached its peak in 1962, however with the deployment of the SS-6ICBM in the USSR, strategic threats shifted overwhelmingly to ICBM attacks, and bomber intrusions were considered to be less of a threat. It does apply to aircraft passing through the zone to other countries.